


Cuphead and Mugman in: Ferocious Funfair

by Booyoo



Category: Cuphead (Video Game)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:14:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27149236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Booyoo/pseuds/Booyoo
Summary: Life has been pleasant since the last time they had defeated the Devil, but that was without counting on Cuphead's usual recklessness! Oneshot side story, hope you enjoy!
Kudos: 1





	Cuphead and Mugman in: Ferocious Funfair

Cuphead and Mugman lived happily again after having defeated the Devil and freed the inhabitant of Inkwell Island from his devious clutches. Daily life was boring, but peaceful. Cuphead and Mugman spent their days running around chasing butterflies, which could be considered a bit strange from casino-able grown-up cups, but hey, that’s how things were.

One day, someone rang at their door.

“Could one of you please go and check?” said Elder Kettle to Cuphead and Mugman who were sitting in front of the TV watching some show. 

“Got it!” said Cuphead as he rose hastily and rushed to the entrance, Mugman at his heels.

“Helloooo there!” said a deep baritone voice. The man standing before them was incredibly tall and lanky, his all-black tuxedo contrasting vividly with the bright yellow of his plumage and the facetted crystal ball hanging from his neck. His huge beak ate more than half of his face, making his suspicious grin even creepier than it was.

The sleaziness was completely lost on Cuphead though. “Why, hello!” he replied enthusiastically. “What can I do for you?”

The man bowed gracefully. “Meet Dalbert Prattleton the Magnificent!” he exclaimed, clapping his hands under his chin before unclasping them slowly, revealing a deck of tarot cards that held together as if by magic. “Come to the Ferocious Funfair down on Island Three if you want to know your future, eat some of the best candy floss in the country, or just have a hell of a time!” he said while wriggling his eyebrows.

“Sure, we’ll definitely come,” replied Cuphead before the man turned around to leave. “Let’s go tomorrow!” he said to Mugman giddily.

Mugman lifted an eyebrow. “Don’t you think that’s weird that he came alone, here in front of our house, which is in the neck of the woods?” Since that whole story with the Devil, Mugman had become a lot more wary overall.

“Don’t be such a party pooper, I’m sure they just want lots of customers.”

“Alright,” said Mugman. After all, what could happen? It’s not as if they would bet their souls…again.

*****

The next day, the two brothers ventured into town, looking for the fair. They found it behind the train station, not far from the casino.

It was great. There were hundreds of balloons decorating the fairgrounds, a giant roller-coaster and dozens of different kinds of stalls.

“Let’s do them all,” said Cuphead to Mugman, stars in his eyes. Mugman took out his wallet. “I’m not sure we will have enough money.”

As if on cue, they heard a loud voice from a nearby stall bellowing, “COME TO OUR SHOOTING STAND AND EARN FREE RIDE TICKETS!!” The brothers sniggered. Shooting was something they were very good at.

A few minutes later, they came out with enough tickets to try all the rides at least twice. Little did they know that behind them, the man from the stall was smirking widely.

And so for at least three days in a row, Cuphead and Mugman went to the fair and did all the rides they could.

On the fourth day, as they were sitting on a bench eating their candy floss—which by the way, was indeed quite tasty—Mugman noticed a darkness in the corner of his eye. He turned his head towards it and saw a black velvet tent with a sign that read “The Magnificent Dalbert Prattleton – Divination for all”. 

“Hey, look, it’s that guy’s tent,” he said to his brother.

“Cool, let’s go after this,” replied Cuphead, taking a big bite from his candy floss.

The inside of the tent was quite small, the only source of light coming from behind a red curtain from which the two siblings could see the outline of Dalbert’s silhouette. A few people were waiting in line. 

“Good day to you,” the medium said dramatically as their turn came, spreading his tarot cards on the table in front of him. “Who would like to know his future?”

“Me!” replied Cuphead.

Dalbert extended a hand. “That would be two tickets, please.” Once he had paid, Cuphead sat in front of the medium, while Mugman stood on the side. Dalbert began shuffling the card in swift motions. He asked Cuphead to cut the deck, after what he picked eight cards that he put in front of him.

“Hmmm, interesting,” Dalbert muttered to himself, “the Six of Wands combined with the Wheel of Fortune and the Sun…”

“What is it?” asked Cuphead eagerly.

The medium’s smile grew wide. “My good companion, you will soon become very rich!”

Cuphead’s eyes twinkled excitedly, but Mugman was a lot more suspicious. “Yeah? And would you care to explain how?” he asked, arms crossed.

“See those three cards?” said Dalbert, pointing down. “They mean abundance of riches. The Wheel of Fortune means that it will happen suddenly. But…” He frowned, checking the cards once more. “I see the Fool and the World, which would mean…”

The medium pulled out two more cards from his deck. “Ha-ha! I knew it!”

“What, what?” Cuphead was out of his mind with impatience.

“In order to attain financial prosperity, you will have to travel, and find a treasure.”

Mugman tutted. “Yeah, right. As if treasures popped out of nowhere all around the globe…”

“I see a trial linked to the treasure,” replied Dalbert Prattleton. “A hard, difficult trial. Could it mean…”

“Man, you’re killing me!” cried Cuphead.

Dalbert smacked his forehead. “It’s the Lost Chalice of the Forbidden Islands!”

“This old legend?” said Mugman.

“Oh no, young cup, this is not a legend.” The medium suddenly bent to the side, rummaging for something in a nearby trunk. “And it just so happens that I have a map of said islands. I could sell it to you—for a small price,” he said, grin so wide it almost touched his eyes.

“If you say ‘your soul’, I’ll punch you so hard your tent will become a merry-go-round,” growled Mugman menacingly. 

Dalbert Prattleton raised his hands as a sign of peace. “No, of course not. I wanted to say all your remaining tickets.” His tone wanted to sound frightened, but that sleazy grin did not disappear from his face.

Mugman’s eyes became two slits. "And why haven't YOU tried to get the treasure?"

"Because it's said the trials surrounding the chalice are terrible," Dalbert replied, a hand on his forehead as if he was acting onstage. "I'm not strong enough, but you... I heard you beat the Devil by yourselves. Surely some horrible trial is worth the price of prosperity?"

This was way, way too suspicious. “I think we will pa—”

“Sold!” said Cuphead, taking out all his reminding tickets and handing them to the suspicious medium.

“A good choice,” said Dalbert, handing the map to Cuphead. “Now if you will excuse me, I need to rest for a while.” He pointed to the exit.

Once they were out of the tent, Mugman let out a frustrated grunt. “Seriously, Cup! Stop being so impulsive. We almost lost our souls because of that last time!”

Cuphead was not the least perturbed. “C’mon, it’s not our souls I gave up, just some tickets we got for almost free! Even if the treasure isn’t real, what would we lose?”

“I hope you’re right,” grumbled Mugman.

“Let’s go tomorrow,” said Cuphead. “I think Captain Brineybeard is sailing towards the islands at sunrise.”

The Forbidden Islands, unlike what you reader might think, were not some mysterious, inaccessible islands lost in the middle of the ocean. They were just a few miles from Inkwell, and had buzzing, prosperous activity. It was even said that their seafood restaurant, “Chez André”, was one of the best in the world.

The next day, before the sun could be seen on the horizon, a wired Cuphead and a sleepy Mugman sailed aboard Shippy towards their ~~gloomy~~ fate.

*****

They spent the night in a nice hotel before taking the ferry to Forbidden Island Four. If the instructions on the medium’s map were correct, there was a cave at the bottom of the Rockacoo Mountain.

“Aren’t you excited?” said Cuphead as the two brothers were hiking on the path leading to the cave.

“Yeah, suuuper excited,” said Mugman ironically.

“Come on, we’re having a blast!”

“I have to admit, at least I’m not bored,” said Mugman with a sigh.

“See! Always see the cup half-full.” Cuphead grinned.

“Whatever.”

The entrance of the cave was huge and ominous, with two menacing eyes carved on top of its mouth, giving the impression to the brothers that they were being engulfed by a horrible monster as they stepped inside. Cuphead rose his forefinger, and a sparkling flame came to life on the tip, chasing the darkness away.

"Always knew that Charge weapon would come useful in some way. Never could use it in battle, though."

"Yeah, too much of a drag."

"Totally."

They ventured deeper into the cave, following a narrow tunnel until they reached some roughly carved spiral stairs leading upwards. They climbed, and climbed, and climbed for at least one hour, talking regular breaks to rest their sore muscles. "I think...this is...the first trial," puffed Cuphead.

They almost cried from relief when they saw the end of that staircase from hell. They carried on a bit until they reached an ornate door. "How do you think it opens? Password? Mysterious key?" asked Mugman.

Cuphead walked to the door an turned the golden knob. The door opened without a sound. "Just like that, bro," he said with a smug grin on his face.

The door led to a small room with glowing stalactites hanging from the ceiling and a small altar, on which rested a simple silver chalice.

"Seriously?" cried Mugman, incredulous. "That can't just be it." Cuphead strode towards it a took it from the altar.

"Noooooo!" yelled Mugman. He braced for some catastrophic event to occur, but nothing came.

"What?" asked Cuphead, looking at Mugman as if he had suddenly grown dog’s ears.

"You moron! You could have killed us!" cried Mugman.

Cuphead frowned angrily. "Yeah? And could you explain how a chalice is supposed to kill?"

"It could have a hidden mechanism that would have thrown some giant boulder our way, or poisonous arrows, or a spiked ceiling... don't you think that a legendary chalice would have already been taken with so little protection?"

Cuphead paused, mouth open. "Well, nothing happened," he mumbled, eyeing the chalice in his hand. That's when he noticed something white sticking out from the bottom. "What is it?" asked Mugman as Cuphead paled.

"I hope they’re joking," he said, showing his brother the bottom of the chalice. On it was a worn-out tag that read: “Property of the MDHR Company. DO NOT REMOVE FROM ALTAR”. And in tiny characters at the bottom right corner: “or let the world suffer”.

Mugman chuckled nervously. “I think all of this was just a practical joke from that damn Prattleton. The fate of the world can’t be linked to a simple chalice placed on an altar, that’s ridiculous.”

“Yeah, ridiculous,” added Cuphead. “Hum, Mug? Was that door here before?”

A new door had appeared in the tiny room, threatening black tendrils seeping from the frame’s cracks like smoke. The two brothers opened the door gingerly, and what they found behind was like hell, but darker—and they of all people ought to know since they’ve been there.

It was a giant circular cavern made of coal black rock. It was bottomless, save from the blue and black flames licking the twelve floating platforms forming a perfect circle. Above each platform, an ominous purple orb was floating, gradually expending with crackling static noise.

“Santa’s trousers!” cried Cuphead. “What is this place?”

“And more importantly,” added Mugman, “what are those purple things?”

Cuphead pulled Mugman by the arm. “Let’s go, the whole thing gives me the creeps.”

Just as he finished his sentence, the purple orbs stretched out drastically, becoming as big as the platforms themselves.

“They look like…portals?” said Mugman. They watched in horror, completely unable to move as a reptile-like hand came out of the portal nearest to their left, making an electric buzzing sound as it tore through the purple glow. It wriggled, as if testing to feel what was on this side before sliding back into the portal.

“I think that’s our cue to leave,” said Cuphead.

The two siblings barely had time to turn around when they heard a deafening cacophony of humming. They didn’t dare move nor look back towards the portal, afraid of what they would see.

“Are you the one that freed us?” said a suave voice right behind them.

They had no choice than to turn around this time. A tall woman stood barely inches from them.

She was what one could call a beauty—perfect curves, long blond hair and heart shaped, red lips. She was dressed in a strange fashion, long stripes or fabric bandages here and there to preserve her modesty, and more importantly, here eyes were also covered by said fabric. Oh, and she had bat wings. She gave Cuphead and Mugman a crooked smile as they struggled to find their voice back.

“Cat got your tongue?” she almost purred. “I just wanted to know if you were the one who freed us.”

She gestured behind her to show her eleven out-of-this-dimension fellows. Let’s just say that she was the easiest to look at.

The two brothers flinched at their sight. “W-what are you?” stuttered Cuphead.

“We are the twelve demons of the inner circle of Hell, of course!” chortled the woman. “We had been sealed away to some other dimension by some scoundrel with a beard centuries ago because we had been naughty. Now that you have freed us, we will be free to roam the earth and wreak havoc!” She laughed merrily, backing away to join her fellow demons.

“We’ve got to do something!” whispered Cuphead to Mugman.

“Totally agree. But can we handle twelve demons at the same time?”

“We need to try anyway. It’s our fault, after all.”

Mugman cleared his throat.

“Okay, _my_ fault,” corrected Cuphead.

While the hell minions were flying into circles, whooping, and cackling like teenagers, the brothers equipped their favourite weapon, readying themselves for battle.

“A brawl’s surely brewing,” sighed Mugman.

“It’s on!” cried Cuphead, charging towards the demons and shooting at them, taking them completely unawares.

A long a difficult battle followed, where Cuphead and Mugman were almost thrown into the black abyss of flames, swallowed by a sentient giant blob of mucus, julienned by a gnarled dwarf with nails twice the size of his body, or even torn apart by the vicious jaw of a creature half shark, half pig. But co-op always paid off, and the two brothers came out victorious, leaving a pile of knocked-out demons in their wake.

“We should send them back before they wake up,” panted Mugman as they made their way back to the chalice room. "If putting the chalice back works..." he muttered to himself.

“I’m beat!” said Cuphead, lying down below the altar. Mugman took out the chalice from his backpack and as he was about to place it back to where it belonged, a feathery arm extended towards him and snatched it away.

"Dalbert Prattleton!" hissed Mugman.

"Wait, what?" said Cuphead confused. He got up and saw the shady medium stand near the exit, chalice in hand and a devilish smile on his lips.

He cackled gleefully. "No, no, dears. There is no sending back my demons to that wretched place. They deserve a bit of fun, don't they?"

The siblings took aim at Prattleton. "What do you mean by 'my demons'?"

The man's smile widened even more. "You shall see!" He stretched his arms above his head and began spinning so quickly he became a blur. As he lost momentum, Cuphead and Mugman gasped in shock as the Devil himself stood before them, laughing manically.

"Since you deprived me from all those juicy souls, I swore I would get my revenge one day. And sending you to unseal my demons was the perfect opportunity." Cuphead and Mugman were too dumbstruck to say anything.

"You know," said the Devil while checking his fingers' claws, "I've been waiting for years for someone brave enough to get into that cave and free them, but it never happened. Not everyone can be cowards, you might say, so why?

"I discovered the answer a few years back only. That damn bearded dude put a curse on the cave's entrance! Only a hero who had proven himself by defeating true evil can get in, so that their only motivation would be to slay my demons for good instead of just sealing them." He spat to the side in disgust. "Freakin' goodie-two-shoes."

As he said that, a tendril of flame licked his right horn, singing it slightly in the process.

Cuphead had shot a charge at him, a deep frown creasing his face. "We're gonna take that chalice back, and we're gonna put it down the altar, and we're gonna send your minions back to their hole with you along this time."

Mugman sniggered. "Well said, Cup!"

The Devil, despite his devious plan that wouldn't have worked on anyone less gullible that Cuphead, hadn't really thought of a fight. He had thought that his twelve demons would have taken care of these two little gits, so he had the same pattern of attacks as the first time they fought.

And these two little cups full of trash knew how to dodge.

The Devil threw every fireballs, orbs, annoying little devil minions and will-o'-wisps he could muster while showering them in a flurry of melee attacks, but he wasn't in his casino nor any place with a gate to hell, so he couldn't bring them there hoping to have some advantage. 

And while he did as much damage as he could, the little prats continued to pummel him with magic bullets of any kind. He held on as much as he could, but when he received two super attacks in a row, the Devil crumpled to the floor, chalice falling from his grip as he did so.

Cuphead picked it up and put it back on the altar. Mugman checked through the door that everything was in order: the purple gates were expanding, creating a vacuum that were dragging back the still unconscious demons from wherever they came from.

And as promised—or rather, threatened—, before the purple orbs finished expanding, Cuphead and Mugman lifted the weakened Devil and threw him on the nearest platform. "I WILL TAKE MY REVENGE!" he yelled in protest. The two brothers ignored him.

They waited until those fellas were gone for good before heading back.

"Shall we go have some fun at the Forbidden Island's fair before leaving?" asked Cuphead as they were trekking down the stairs.

"Nah, let's just go home."


End file.
